


If I Hadn't Gone, Where Would We Stand?

by sandwoop_ks



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Boys In Love, But He's Only There for a Single Chapter, Dorks in Love, Falling In Love, Fluff, Haiba Lev is a Bad Ex, Hinata Shouyou is Sunshine, I Mean How Couldn't He, I Think I Wrote Kenma Kind of Out of Character and I'm Sorry, I'm Actively Adding Tags As I Write This, Idiots in Love, Kenma Falls in Love With Hinata Really Fast, Kozume Kenma Deserves All the Love, Kozume Kenma Deserves the World, Kozume Kenma Needs a Hug, Kozume Kenma in Love, Lev and Yaku Go to a Different School Because I Don't Want to Make This Angst, Lev is a Bitch, M/M, Oblivious Hinata Shouyou, Past Haiba Lev/Kozume Kenma, Slow Updates, That's a Lot of in Love Tags I Feel Like a Sap Now, Volleyball Dorks in Love, Yaku is There for Like Two Sentences
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:56:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28882806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandwoop_ks/pseuds/sandwoop_ks
Summary: Tetsurō throws a party and drags Kenma along. Kenma does pretty okay for the most part, save for his phone being dead and charging in Tetsurō's bedroom. Upon trying to get to his best friend's room to both escape people and play games on his phone, Kenma sees a certain someone that he would rather not associate with. He quickly finds someone to pretend to be dating to get out of this sticky situation, but what happens when this person turns out to be fairly attractive to Kenma in almost every way possible?
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Kozume Kenma, Hinata Shouyou/Kozume Kenma
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

Kenma wasn’t by _any_ means a party person. He’d much rather pull all-nighters playing video games in the comfort of his bedroom rather than party the night away in a crowded house. Though, he somehow ended up at a house party that his best friend, Tetsurō, had thrown.

The bleach blonde was sitting in the kitchen in a decently isolated space, chowing down on any snacks he could find. His phone had died a while ago, and it was charging safely in Tetsurō’s bedroom. As a result of his phone being dead, Kenma was bored, which was exactly why he was binge eating. He constantly needed something to do, and eating was really his only option. It wasn’t like he had the courage or extroversion to talk to others like Tetsurō had.

A thought soon clicked into Kenma’s head that he was surprised he hadn’t thought about sooner. He didn’t necessarily _have_ to be in the areas where all the people were, he could just go to Tetsurō’s room. It was isolated _and_ his phone was charging in there. It was a win/win in Kenma’s eyes.

He put the tray of snacks back where he’d found them and stood up from the chair he was sitting in. He brushed any crumbs off of his hoodie and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He looked around, scouting out a path he could take to Tetsurō’s bedroom without having to encounter too many people.

But his eyes landed on a certain someone.

Tall, pale, green-eyed, and platinum blonde.

It was Kenma’s worst nightmare.

And he was slowly making his way toward the gamer.

 _Quick, look for someone,_ **_anyone_ ** _to latch on to._ This was one of those times where Kenma didn’t really care about his social anxiety. The adrenaline that was pumped throughout his entire body gave him enough confidence to quickly find someone to associate with. He settled on a short ginger who seemed to be not-busy enough to approach. Kenma quickly snaked his arm around the boy’s shoulders, startling him for a few seconds.

“Shh! Just hear me out…” Kenma spoke quietly, hunching over as if they were huddling up like he did in volleyball club. “That’s my ex over there,” he darted his eyes over to the direction of the tall, platinum blonde who was walking toward them. “I need you to pretend that we’re dating for a sec so I can make him go away.”

He stared at Kenma with a blank expression for a few seconds before smiling wide and bright. The gamer was quickly mesmerized by this boy’s aura. “Of course! My name is Shōyō, by the way,” the ginger said before the two of them broke out of their huddle. “What’s your name?”

“K-Kenma,” the bleach blonde replied quietly, snapping out of his daze. Shōyō was thankfully able to hear him; he hated having to repeat himself due to his quietness.

“Kenma! Fancy seeing you here!” The tall platinum blonde said once he finally made his way to the two shorter boys.

“H-hey, Lev…” Kenma greeted him quietly and shyly, slowly making eye-contact with him.

Shōyō sort of hid behind Kenma, intimidated by how tall the boy in front of him was. “K-Kenma, my love… who-who is this?”

Kenma blushed, not expecting a pet name to come out of this stranger’s mouth; even though he was supposed to pretend that they were dating, and all. “U-um… this is Lev. My, uh, my ex. Lev, this is- this is Shōyō… he’s my new boyfriend…”

“New boyfriend, eh? You move on fast, dontcha?” Lev said as he bent down to Kenma’s height. “As expected from someone like you,” he turned to face Shōyō, who was no longer hiding behind the bleach blonde. “You’d better watch out for this one, Shōyō,” Lev spat before walking away.

As soon as Lev was out of Kenma’s sight, the gamer began to cry. Heck, he didn’t even _know_ he was crying until Shōyō had said something.

“Hey, are you okay, Kenma?” Shōyō asked, his voice full of worry. “What was with that guy, anyway? Wait… was he a _toxic_ ex?! Do I have to beat somebody up for you?!” He was immediately ready to walk back up to that jerk and give him a piece of his mind.

“Wh-why do you even care? You just met me. Wh-why are you being so nice to me s-so fast? Even-even after what h-he said…” Kenma was a stuttering and crying mess.

“He didn’t say _that_ much! He was being cryptic as hell, anyways! Besides, my intuition says that you’re not all that bad! Everyone has their flaws!” Shōyō exclaimed, and it somehow made Kenma’s emotions do a full one-eighty.

“Y-you really think so?” Kenma asked, wiping the tears from his eyes and meeting them with Shōyō’s. He was instantly mesmerized again, but this time, it was with those hazel irises of his.

“Mhm!” Shōyō nodded, his grin wide and genuine. It warmed Kenma's seemingly emotionless heart.

Kenma looked down and smiled to himself. “Thank you,” he mumbled. “I-I should get going,” and he was off again to find a less crowded path to Tetsurō’s bedroom.

Shōyō was looking all around for the tall platinum blonde he’d been confronted with earlier. He wanted to give that jerk a piece of his mind for making Kenma cry and think so badly of himself. Finally, he spotted Lev in the living room, sitting on the couch and taunting a shorter kid with light brown hair.

“Hey!” Shōyō called out to the tall guy, earning his attention. “You’ve got some nerve talking to Kenma like that!”

“Oh, it’s you, Shōyō!” Lev said with a sarcastic smile. “Whaddya mean ‘you’ve got some nerve talking to Kenma like that’? I was only speaking the truth, was I not?”

Shōyō clenched his fists tightly. He believed that no one should _ever_ deserve to be treated the way Lev had treated Kenma earlier! Well, unless they really deserved it; and this jerk sure did. “Kenma is so great! I’m sure you abused him when you two were together; put all those untrue things in the poor guy’s mind!” he exclaimed angrily.

“What? _Abusive_? Sorry, I think you’ve got the wrong guy. I only speak my mind,” Lev stood up and hovered over Shōyō in an attempt to intimidate the significantly shorter human being. “Look, I don’t have the time to talk to a little shrimp like you about something like that, so you be on your way, and I’ll be on mine,” he then walked away with the brown-haired boy following him quietly.

Shōyō wasn’t done with him just yet, but he supposed he should lay off for the time-being. But if he were to ever see that beanpole again, he would _definitely_ feel Shōyō’s wrath for saying such mean things about someone who just seemed so good and fragile.

“Hinata!” Tobio shouted angrily from across the room. “Stop arguing with people twice your size, dumbass!”

“But I had a good reason this time, Kageyama!” Shōyō whined as he made his way toward the raven-haired boy.

“Whatever. C’mon, I’m getting bored here and I don’t want to walk home by myself,” Tobio said before he turned around and headed toward the door.

“Wait up! You walk too fast!” Shōyō complained before he hurriedly followed Tobio to the entrance and out the front door of Tetsurō’s house.

“Ah, I knew you’d be in here,” Tetsurō said upon entering his bedroom and shutting the door behind him. He walked over to his bed and sat down on the floor next to it. The room was dark, save for the shine of Kenma’s phone screen.

Kenma was currently lying on his stomach on Tetsurō’s bed, playing on his phone while it charged. “You know me all too well, Kuro,” he said sarcastically, never taking his eyes off of his game.

Tetsurō chuckled lightly at his best friend’s sarcasm. “In all seriousness, though, I’m here to apologize.”

“For what?” Kenma asked, leaning his head toward his best friend, signifying that he now had most of the gamer's attention.

“For inviting Lev—well, I didn’t necessarily _invite_ him, someone I invited just brought him along. I would’ve never made you come if I knew Lev was coming, so I’m sorry,” Tetsurō tried to sound as serious about his apology as he possibly could; because he truly was very sorry.

“It’s fine,” Kenma said bluntly. “Besides, I wouldn’t have met Shōyō today if it wasn’t for him being here, so…”

“Shōyō?” Tetsurō asked, mostly to himself. “Wait, do you mean Hinata? You met him today?”

“Mhm,” Kenma hummed as he lost at his game. He put his phone down and sat up, crossing his legs and facing Tetsurō. “Do you happen to know him by any chance?”

“Well, sort of. We’re playing a practice game against the school he goes to next week, so I thought it’d be nice to invite the team over so we could get to know each other,” Tetsurō explained.

Kenma’s face lit up and he widened his eyes. “Wait, so I get to see him again?”

“Yeah, isn’t that pretty much what I just said?” Tetsurō let out a small laugh. “Why do you even care, anyway?” Suddenly, he gasped. “Wait, do you _like_ Hinata?”

Kenma blushed and looked down. “No! Kuro, why are you always assuming things?!” He whined.

“I’m joking, Kenma, geez!” Tetsurō laughed, then they fell into a small bit of silence. “Well, I guess I’ll leave you to it, then,” he said before standing up and leaving the room.

Kenma lay back down and stared at the ceiling. All he could really do was daydream about seeing Shōyō at school next week. Upon thinking about this, he found it surprisingly easy to close his eyes and let himself drift off into sleep; and he may or may not have dreamt of Shōyō that night.


	2. Chapter 2

The day had finally come for the Karasuno volleyball team to play their practice game with Nekoma. Kenma was really excited to see Shōyō again, and on less… urgent terms, this time. He was actively looking out for the ginger instead of doing his warm-ups like he was supposed to.

“Kenma,” Tetsurō said, nudging his best friend's upper arm with his elbow. “Stop looking at the entrance like your life depends on it. I know you don’t like people, but don’t let it affect your warm-ups. C’mon, get moving!”

“It’s not that,” Kenma mumbled as he went back to stretching. He managed to keep an eye on the entrance without being more focused on it than his warm-ups this time.

After a few more minutes of stretching, the Karasuno volleyball team walked through the gym doors. Kenma’s eyes were set on Shōyō as soon as he entered the gym. Just the known presence of this boy made Kenma feel like he could do almost anything, though he didn’t know why. They’d only just met once, so why did it feel like he’d known Shōyō for years?

“KENMA!!” Shōyō shouted from across the gym, waving.

Kenma visibly smiled and waved back to the ginger. “Hi, Shōyō!” His shout wasn't as loud and powerful as Shōyō's, but at least it was just loud enough to reach the ginger's ears.

The practice game didn’t go very smoothly; not while the brain of the team was making goo goo eyes at Karasuno’s number ten. The way Kenma was just always mesmerized by the shorter boy's presence... it was really... _something_.

“Straighten up, Kenma,” Tetsurō said to the bleach blonde, earning an apologetic look from him.

“S-sorry, Kuro…” Kenma lowered his head, looking at the ground.

“Kozume!” Coach Nekomata called from the bench, causing Kenma to lift his head back up. The coach motioned for Kenma to come sit with him, and he did so immediately.

“Sir?” Kenma asked, sitting down next to his coach.

“What’s your problem today? You’re usually on-point all the time,” coach Nekomata pointed out.

“S-sorry, coach,” Kenma mumbled, letting his gaze fall to the floor once again.

“I think I’m going to keep you here for the rest of the practice game. You seem really out of it today,” coach Nekomata said, earning a nod of understanding from Kenma.

Kenma watched for the rest of the game. He wasn’t going to lie, when he saw that epic quick Tobio and Shōyō pulled off, he got a little jealous. _I want to toss to Shōyō like that_ , the gamer thought to himself.

Wait... why was he even jealous of some complete strangers, anyway? Was he obsessed? He wouldn’t doubt it; he really did admire Shōyō a lot. It was sort of weird to Kenma, though. It would usually take a really long time for him to even interact with someone he’s seen often, but Shōyō was really putting that to the test. There was just something about that boy that Kenma adored so much, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

The end of the practice game couldn’t have come quicker. The opposing teams bowed and thanked each other for the game for the second time today, then split off to change out of their sweaty clothing. When they were done, they all came back out to the gym and hung out for a little while before the Karasuno team had to head back to their school.

“Kenmaaa!” Shōyō shouted as he ran up to the bleach blonde.

Kenma was sitting cross-legged on the ground next to Tetsurō. They both looked over to the direction of the ginger’s voice.

“Shōyō!” Kenma exclaimed, perking up and smiling wide.

“Hey, Hinata,” Tetsurō said casually.

“Hi, guys!” Shōyō said with a big grin as he sat next to them.

“So, Hinata,” Tetsurō started. “I heard you and Kenma met at my house last week. How’d that happen exactly? Kenma doesn’t really get out much, so I doubt he walked up to you first. Or that it was even easy to talk to him.”

“Kuro!” Kenma said in a groan, punching his best friend in the shoulder.

“Ow!” Tetsurō whined, but he quickly got over it.

“Actually, he _did_ just walk up to me,” Shōyō said. “Wait, you mean he doesn’t always do that? I thought it was normal! Kenma, you made it seem so casual!” The ginger said in a whine.

“I was in a rough situation! You just happened to be the closest person to go to...” Kenma briefly explained.

“Wait, what?” Tetsurō asked. “I’m so lost; what happened?”

Kenma looked at his best friend with a confused expression. “You don’t know? I thought you might have seen the whole thing. I mean, you came to check on me a little while after it happened.”

“After _what_ happened?!” Tetsurō pressed. He wanted the deets, and he wanted them now.

“Some crazy tall guy came up to him- well, us, and started being a real jerk!” Shōyō chimed in. “I forgot his name, but I know Kenma told me that he was his ex.”

“Lev walked up to you?!” Tetsurō shouted a bit too loud, earning stares from almost everyone in the gym. He waved everyone off with a silent apology and went back to the conversation, clearing his throat. “He walked up to you?”

Kenma and Shōyō both nodded.

“Yeah, that's the guy! He was being cryptic as hell, though,” Shōyō added.

“Hidden insults,” Kenma said simply and quietly.

“Oh, when I get my hands on him…” Tetsurō said through clenched teeth.

“Don’t do anything that’ll put you in jail,” Kenma giggled, but he _was_ serious; at least half serious.

“No promises,” Tetsurō joked. “Hinata, you wanna help?”

“Yeah!” Shōyō agreed immediately.

“Guys!” Kenma whined. “You don’t need to protect me, you know!”

“We know,” Tetsurō and Shōyō said simultaneously.

The three boys chatted for a few more minutes before coach Ukai rounded the Karasuno team up and took them back to their school. The Nekoma team then gathered all of their things up and got ready to leave the gym.

“Hey,” Tetsurō said, nudging Kenma. “I’m proud of you for making a new friend. I don’t see that often with you.”

Kenma smiled and looked down. He hadn’t done this much smiling in a long time. Making a new friend really did make the gamer feel pretty good. “I think I’m proud of me, too.”

"Oh, and Hinata wanted me to give you this," Tetsurō said as he pulled a small piece of paper out of his sweater pocket and gave it to his best friend.

"What is it?" Kenma asked as he took the paper out of the messy haired boy's hand.

"Hinata's number," Tetsurō said casually.

"Oh," Kenma said dryly, but he was pretty much having a celebration in his head. He'd never felt this happy so fast, not even with Lev when he first caught feelings. How could a single person like Shōyō make him feel so much more human than he had before?

"You okay?" Tetsurō asked. "You look pretty out of it again."

"Hm? Oh, I'm okay," Kenma gave a reassuring smile. "Let's go home."


	3. Chapter 3

The moment Kenma got home, he typed Shōyō’s number into his phone. He immediately texted him so he could save his number. They didn’t really talk much after that, as they needed to do their homework and have dinner with their families.

For the entirety of dinner, Kenma wouldn’t shut up about Shōyō. His parents weren’t necessarily upset about it. In fact, they were proud that their son was able to make a new friend. They knew how hard it was for the poor boy to do so, as he was very antisocial.

After dinner, Kenma still had a little time to himself before he needed to go to bed. Of course, he decided to text Shōyō in order to kill some time. Usually, he’d play video games, but today, he was more hyped about having Shōyō’s number.

Kenma: hey shōyō

Shōyō: hi kenmaaaa! how are you?

Kenma: im doing fine. i just wanted to see what you were up to

Shōyō: nothing really, just lying in bed and texting you

Kenma: same here  
Kenma: so uh i have a question to ask. it may be a bit personal but i need an answer

Shōyō: that’s okay, go ahead and ask!

Kenma: it’s about kageyama  
Kenma: are you and him close? like really close?

Kenma didn’t know exactly why he needed to ask that question. Was he possibly jealous of Tobio? Did he just need to be reassured that Tobio was nothing but a friend to Shōyō? What was going on with Kenma’s brain lately?

Shōyō: i mean he can be a real jerk to me sometimes but i wouldn’t say we aren’t close

Kenma: okay… are you two... dating or anything?

Kenma’s heart raced as he sent that message. He was hoping, praying that Shōyō would deny having any romantic feelings or relations toward Tobio.

Shōyō: what? that’s a weird thing to ask kenma! but no we aren’t dating or anything. we’re just good friends is all

And that was when Kenma’s heart finally calmed itself down. He felt a sudden sense of relief. What was it to him if they were dating anyway? It wasn’t like he cared… right?

Shōyō: actually i also have something to ask you. is that okay?

Kenma: oh of course. go on

Shōyō: so um… you and kuroo? are you two..?

Why was _Shōyō_ asking these questions now? Kenma didn’t want to ask why and come off as pushy, so he just answered the question.

Kenma: he’s just my best friend

Shōyō: ah okay!  
Shōyō: i have to get to bed now. it was nice texting you kenma! gn!

Kenma: goodnight shōyō

Kenma was surprisingly able to get a whole night of sleep in after that. Usually, he would toss and turn all night and give in to playing video games for the remainder of the night due to his insomnia, but last night was different for some reason. Damn, Shōyō was really doing things to him, huh?

“Whoa, Kenma,” Tetsurō said upon meeting his best friend outside. “You look less lifeless today, what happened? I mean, it’s not a bad thing or anything! I just want to know what’s got you so… energized.”

“You can always tell when there’s something different with me, Kuro,” Kenma said with a small smile. “I actually slept through the entire night last night.”

“Wait, really? How?” Tetsurō was completely in awe after hearing Kenma actually slept for a decent amount of time for once in his life.

“To be completely honest, I think it might have something to do with Shōyō,” Kenma replied with a shrug. “All I did was text him last night and I just felt, I don’t know… calmer? More relaxed? Either way, I know Shōyō was the reason I was able to rest easy.”

“That kid really is something, huh?” Tetsurō said with a chuckle.

“Mhm,” Kenma replied, even if it was a question that wasn’t meant to be answered. 

“I’m glad he’s changing you for the better, Kenma. But if he breaks your heart, I will break his skull,” Tetsurō put on a sarcastic and scary-looking smile.

“You don’t need to look out for me, Kuro. I can handle myself,” Kenma said simply.

“But I will anyway because you’re my best friend,” was the last thing Tetsurō said before the two of them separated for their classes.

Kenma was able to stay awake throughout all of his classes, which came as a surprise to most of his teachers. Kenma would sleep through most of his classes due to his sleep deprivation, but since he got all the sleep he could last night, he was awake and learning for every single class.

Even in volleyball practice, Kenma was on-point and playing at his 110% full potential. He was doing so well that he was even able to get loads of praise from coach Nekomata.

Every night, Kenma would continue to text Shōyō at roughly the same time. It would always put Kenma at ease to talk to the ray of sunshine that was Shōyō Hinata. He really didn’t know why he felt this way every time he talked or thought about Shōyō. Did he like Shōyō? More than just a friend? As a best friend? No, Kenma doesn’t feel this way about Tetsurō.

You know what? Maybe he did like Shōyō romantically, at least a little bit. And that way okay, even if the boy didn’t return the feelings. It’d actually been a while since someone made the gamer feel this way, and he actually thought it felt nice. It made him feel like he wasn’t an emotionless monster. It made him feel _human_.

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of a writing prompt. "You're at a party when you spot [an] ex. Quick, you urgently have to pretend to be dating the nearest person, who happens to be very attractive." Also, this is my first Kenhina fic, I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoy writing it.


End file.
